Agency Photographs Public Affairs Events, etc. -- Planned Parenthood Gala at the Swiss Hotel, Atlanta, March 2000 [folder 1 of 3]

Margaret Sanger, a practicing nurse, began Planned Parenthood New York in 1916 to provide family planning services for low income and immigrant women. Decisive legislation in the 1930's legalized birth control in New York, Vermont and Connecticut, and gradually, as legislation allowed, Sanger was able to disseminate information on birth control methods through opening health clinics across the nation. The Atlanta, Georgia affiliate of Planned Parenthood was founded in 1964 by Mrs. Herbert (Esther) Taylor. Mrs. Taylor brought together representatives of churches, professionals and businesses to organize what was then called the Planned Parenthood Association of the Atlanta Area, Inc., (PPAA) and later (in the 1980's) simply referred to as Planned Parenthood of Atlanta. At the time of PPAA's founding, Fulton County had one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the nation: statistics showed 50,000 women in greater Atlanta between the ages of 15 and 45 needed family planning services but could not afford a private physician. In 1966, the first Planned Parenthood clinic opened at the Bethlehem Community Center, and by 1974 Planned Parenthood of Atlanta was operating nine clinics throughout the Atlanta area, serving 7,000 patients a year. In 1997, clinic outreach was further expanded when Planned Parenthood of East-Central Georgia joined with Planned Parenthood of the Atlanta Area to become Planned Parenthood of Georgia. In 2010, Planned Parenthood Georgia combined with the Alabama and Mississippi affiliates, and together they became Planned Parenthood Southeast. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Georgia is a pro-choice advocacy organization. A separate entity from Planned Parenthood Southeast, the Action Fund's mission is to advance and defend reproductive freedom for all through fund raising for lobbyists to elect pro-choice leaders, tirelessly advocating on behalf of women, men and young people who rely on Planned Parenthood to provide reproductive choice.